Study of the formation of the primary 137Cs vertical profile in the organic matter-rich sediments

Abstract

A laboratory study of the formation of the primary vertical profile of the 137Cs activity concentration in the anaerobic organic matter-rich sediments was carried out. The incubation was performed using sediment baths method (initial thickness of the water layer over the sediments ∼40 cm, initial radiocesium activity concentration in water ∼14.53 Bq·L−1). An exponential profile (R2∼0.999) with the half-height width of ∼0.65 cm was formed after ∼32 days of the incubation. A further course of the experiment (sediments were sampled after 64, 130 and 293 days of the incubation) revealed deviations in the form of the radiocesium activity concentration profile related to the appearance of the additional Gauss factor with the increasing half-height width of ∼1.2, ∼1.3 and ∼3 cm, respectively. In spite of the evident growth of the half-height width, the radiocesium migration rate decreased from 0.02 cm·day−1 for the first 32 days of incubation down to 0.009 cm·day−1 at the end of the incubation experiment. Such a time-dependent decrease in the radiocesium migration is possibly related to the beginning of the second radiocesium migration phase depending on the retardation factor. Besides diffusion, the formation of vertical profiles of radiocesium activity concentrations in sediments was additionally induced by effects of buoyancy of the upper sediment layer due to the seepage of the above lying water into sediments.